ulakovic22

I'm not at all familiar with Patriot springs. What are the pressures associated with those springs? What I remember being quoted earlier was close to the same closed pressure as the beehives, but a higher open pressure. Assuming the same heights were compared the patriots just have a higher spring rate?

Since there is a problem getting the Patriot springs timely along with an associated out of pocket cost why not go to Lloyd and see if he will set you up with another set of springs and get them installed correctly this time and see what happens?

89385formula

No I don't run this specific cam in my car, because I run a LS1 in my car. I have plenty of experience with these cams, and the install to make the claims. There are also other people on the boards here that run this cam and similar without issue? I am not gonna bicker with you back and forth, we already know that you can't setup springs properly and don't measure pushrod length. I am not claiming to be a valvetrain expert, I happen to be friends with a few people that set valvetrains up like this all the time and don't have issues. Not to mention I run Beehives with a cam in my car that conventional online wisdom would say won't work, and they work flawlessly. My advice was to take advice from people that have made the setup work, not people such as yourself that couldn't make it work. Any more questions for me feel free to PM me.

git_sum

Don't those have more spring pressure than the PAC1218's? I'm not giving you a hard way to go here but it appears that even now your saying the PAC1218s won't work and your suggesting a spring with more pressure.

To me it just seems smarter to go with the Patriots, they've been proven time and time again in ls1 cars with bigger cams and they seem to work just fine, plus they're pretty cheap given what they come with.

marshall93z

Are you suggesting springs with LESS pressure?

git_sum

No i'm suggesting to run the Patriot setup. The other guy said he'd run the PAC1518's shimmed up instead of the PAC1218's. I'm pretty sure the 1518's are the stronger springs. Not to bust his nuts or anything but now it just seems he's back peddling and even saying they should use a stronger spring than what they both have.

ulakovic22

That makes no sense. He suggested going with a slightly higher spring pressure and rate so that when the springs lose the 5-10% pressure after breakin they still give more pressure than what the OP was running. Why would he want to run a spring with less pressure. To cure float you either need to reduce your valvetrain weight or get a little stronger spring to help control the valve on the way back down.

89385formula

Not backpeddling at all! PAC 1518's are a better spring. The member was worried about longevity once the issue was resolved, thats why i recomended the 1518's.

git_sum

How does it not make sense? Before he said the 1218's were fine, now he's suggesting a spring with more pressure as if the 1218's arn't good enough.... I'm just bustin his chops is all.

ulakovic22

Typically the intake valve experiences float first because it weights more than your exhaust valve. Most springs will see 5-10% decrease in pressure after breakin and the fact that your exhaust valves followed this guideline while the intake didn't proves you did in fact have float.

The reason the float occured on the other hand could have been from running to low a pressure to begin with causing the spring to wear prematurely. I believe you said these spring were rated at 135 at 1.78 and they are currently 115? That's way too much and shows there was a valvetrain problem. Looking at the exhaust though shows even at 1.78 installed it still controlled the valve and didn't lose it's pressure like the intake. It only lost 5 lbs which is normal and falls in the 5-10% range.

I wouldn't count these springs out just yet and if you are able to get a set from Lloyd for free your car will be back up sooner and you will be out less money.

ulakovic22

Oh ok, missed the

wrd1972

Again my feelings are that the Pac 1218's are on the thresh hold, they work with some and not others depending on components used and proper set up. The only mistake I made was having them at 1.775" install height which is the way they came from LE but at that the they had Comp 918's installed. The 918's busted in 20 miles do to springs defects. I then installed the PAC 1218's that LE provided and Voila the install height was 1.775" once again. I cant say for sure if I had float or not when they were rather new.

AINT NO WAY IN HELL I AM TRYING COMP 918'S AGAIN.

I am still deciding between the Patriot Golds and the extremes. I am leaning toward the Golds hoping they would be strong enough over the 1218's to do the job without producing un-needed pressure. I dont mind monitoring them or even replacing them every few years. I talked to Patriot and they said either would be fine and far supperoir to the beehives.

I also talked to several other well respected folk that suggested the same springs.

I am also leaning toward going to 1.5 ratio roller rockers to bring the lift down to the 570's to slow the valve train down and reduce the beating.

Colin91Z

If it makes you feel any better, I'm running 1.52 promags with a 3100 series lobe BRE cam (not the same lobe as you have, 2 steps bigger) and 918s.

I just took a pair of my springs off last night and had them checked today, both intake and exhaust were ~135lbs @ 1.75...I pulled all of my lifters and checked them and the cam lobes over very well....and I have no indication of any valvefloat whatsoever, even with my 7k shiftpoints....

git_sum

1.5 rocker arms are for pussies, keep the 1.6's in there.

Colin91Z

Mine still runs........

ulakovic22

My worry is that with switching to a conventional spring that the increased pressure will be offset by the increased weight you are adding to the valvetrain system. Also switching to a 1.5 ratio probably won't do much in terms of slowing the valvetrain down as you put it. Most of the time the inertia of the valvetrain causes the spring to fully compress anyway. That's why builders pick springs that use the solid state to help control the spring. I would try the 1218's again and have them setup properly. You saw that the exhaust valves barely lost any pressure, so fatigue really shouldn't be a concern. What are the pressures on the Patriot springs?